Day 6 Sturgeon Spearing Harvest Report - Thursday February 15, 2018
Attention Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Enthusiasts:
Today’s harvest from Lake Winnebago included 33 fish. The south end continues to produce the best with Wendt’s (11 fish), Calumet Harbor (8 fish), and Jerry’s Bar (6) registering the most fish. The north shore stations have been very slow with Waverly Beach, Stockbridge Harbor, and Payne’s Point combining to register only 4 fish.
The big fish today was 131.4 pounds, 77.0” and registered at Wendt’s by Nicholas Ludvigsen. I had a chance to talk to Nicholas and his uncle today and this was truly a special fish for their family. Nicholas’s grandfather Jody Ludvigsen passed away in September of last year. Jody was a passionate sturgeon spearer and when he passed the family decided to have him cremated. Further, his ashes were incorporated into sturgeon decoys for family members to have and celebrate Jody’s memory. Nicholas’s fish was the largest fish ever speared by a family member, and I’m sure that his grandfather is proudly smiling down today. I have included a photo of Nicholas and his fish. Congratulations to the Ludvigsen family!
I want to again thank all of the successful spearers that have donated their sturgeon heads thus far this season. We removed the otoliths from 54 sturgeon heads on Monday and as we processed another 150-160 heads today, the guys are finishing up as I type this email. We would not be able to collect the data we do without the support of spearers.
Good luck to spearers on Friday!
Sturgeon Vignette – “The 1968 sturgeon spearing season”
I have included a few documents from the 1968 spearing season: 1) Summary report showing water clarity, number of fish speared and some of the regulations for the season, 2) 1968 pre-season news release, and 3) harvest stats for the 80 fish harvested from the Upriver Lakes during the 1968 season.
It's amazing to read through these documents and see how much has changed over the past 50 years. The premise of the sport remains the same, and so do many of the regulations, but there have been some subtle changes through time. For example:
- 1968 was the first season that spearers were required to purchase a $2.50 spearing license (tags are currently $20 for residents and $65 for non-residents).
- Fish must be registered by 6 PM of the same day the fish was speared (that time has since changed to 2 PM).
- 1968 was the first season it was unlawful to transport any sturgeon in or on any motor drive vehicle without the sturgeon openly exposed.
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Ryan Koenigs
Senior Fisheries Biologist / Winnebago System Sturgeon Biologist
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Phone: (920)303-5450
Fax: (920)424-4404